


Avengers Movie Night

by CoffeeAndArrows



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, The Avengers watch snow white, but only brief mentions, it doesn't end well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-30
Updated: 2015-12-30
Packaged: 2018-05-10 10:15:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5581867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoffeeAndArrows/pseuds/CoffeeAndArrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of people is not a team, regardless of the number of battles they've fought together. Tony grinned. Time to fix that.</p>
<p>----------</p>
<p>I haven't been able to stop thinking about the young Black Widows watching Snow White... so here's a fic of a well intended movie night which goes horribly wrong :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Avengers Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

> I just re watched Agent Carter and I have a lot of feelings. 
> 
> This is my first fic, so sorry in advance :)
> 
> Comments make me happy (pls talk to me)

A collection of people is not a team, regardless of the number of battles they've fought together. Tony grinned. Time to fix that.

' 'k guys, listen up. You know what we've never done?'

He was greeted by 7 identical blank stares, although, being Tony Stark, he refused to let this change his mind. After grinning round at his team mates, he simply continued 'We've never had a movie night!'

'Probably because there's a high chance it would end in death,' Clint muttered darkly under his breath. Natasha to let out an involuntary snort of laughter from where she was perched on the couch next to him. As if Stark was getting them to a movie night.

Tony turned to glare at her, causing her to narrow her eyes at him, confirming Clint's suspicions. Hostility rolled off them in waves - his money was on Nat. She could take Stark any day.

'Yes, that includes you, lovebirds. I don't care that you kill people for fun, you still have to come to movie night. If you don't, I will -'

'- Tony' Steve interrupted irritably. 'I really don't think that -'

'Oh, just close your star-spangled mouth Capsicle. Movie night, tonight, for EVERYONE.' Glaring pointedly at the two assassins in the corner, he added 'I will expect you ALL here at 7 O'clock sharp, or I will personally ensure that Jarvis gases your apartment so that I can drag you here by force.'

Nat rolled her eyes at the empty threat. She doubted Stark would risk losing two valuable team members - and even if he did, her training would ensure that whatever gas he could concoct wouldn't have any effect. Briefly glancing at Clint, she opened her mouth to respond to Stark, but before she could Sam piped up from where he was lounging on the other couch.

'Well then, I'm choosing'

\----------------

'This is an awful idea'

'You don't say'

Nat rolled her eyes at the archer's words, which were dripping with sarcasm. She really hated movie nights.

'Ten bucks you cause Stark bodily harm by the end on the evening'

She pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow at her partner, before one corner of her mouth twisted into a smirk. 

'You know I don't make bets that I think I'm gonna lose'

Clint grinned, but his response was cut off by a sharp knock at the door, followed by an apologetic voice. Steve. Stark hadn't even come to do his dirty work himself.

'Uh... Hey guys. Tony sent me to..uh...' He nervously cleared his throat. 'Sorry. I don't blame you if you don't want to come down, just Tony sent me to tell you that they've put on a film downstairs, so um... Come down if you want, I guess.'

For a moment, she considered not going down to join the team, but then again, Steve sounded ready to explode. That would be a shame. She liked Steve better than the rest of them. She sighed. 'Thanks Steve'

'We'll be down in a minute.' 

Clint sighed, resigning himself to the fate that awaited downstairs.

\----------

'Remind me again why we live here?'

'I honestly couldn't say'

She laughed. 'C'mon. We'd better go down, or Steve'll get in a flap'

Clint groaned, but obliged, and they strolled slowly together down to the living area. Clint reached down to brush his hand over Nat's. Neither of them were particularly fond of showing affection, but he squeezed her hand tightly before dragging her to the kitchen for drinks. After all, he may well be going to movie night, but he damn well wasn't going without alcohol.

\----------

Freshly acquired alcohol in hand, they strolled into the living area, where the Avengers, Bucky, and Sam were sprawled out across various couches and armchairs. Clint stepped forward, towards the only empty couch, but spun around immediately as the sound of smashing glass filled the room.

He watched as Nat's eyes landed on the TV screen, the color draining from her face, her eyes flooding with terror. 

Before he had time to process this, Bucky leapt to his feet, memories flooding back to him. 'Turn it off'

How had he forgotten?

The remaining Avengers stared blankly at Bucky and Clint, seemingly ignoring the threatening words which had just been uttered. But before anyone could respond, Clint sprinted out after Natasha, leaving Bucky standing alone in the center of the room, running his hands through his hair as he tried to shake the horrific memories from his mind. Those girls... How could he forget something like that? What had he done?

'TURN IT OFF' 

Voice tinged with panic, he yelled at his teammates again, unintentionally showing them just how shaken he was feeling. Without waiting for a response, he left to go and find the others, leaving his confused teammates in stunned silence.

\---------

_Instill fear_. No, no, no. Not like this. Had they known? Why was...?

She staggered from the room just as the opening scene of Snow White drew to a close, desperate to put as much distance between herself and the ghosts of her past as possible. She swallowed, trying to fight off the wave of nausea that washed over her. She tasted the metallic tang of blood, where she had bitten her lip to stop from crying out, not noticing her actions as she curled up in a ball on the floor, whimpering. _Noise shows pain, Natalia. If shows that you are weak. You must never be weak, Natalia._

Her head was spinning. Her heart was cold, filled with fear. She'd never told them, but... Had Stark found out? Surely Bucky...?

Trying to stop herself from shaking, she sucked in deep breaths, but she felt her hot tears spill over her cheeks, burning as they fell. She felt someone coming closer, but couldn't bring herself to care. _Sloppy, Natalia. We have no use for the weak. If you cannot become more than the pain, then you are weak. Weak girls will be -_

'Tasha?'

Clint. Why was he here? He shouldn't be here. What if they found him? They'd turn him into a monster, like her. _You will never be anything but the monster you are._ Trying to free herself from her inner turmoil, she wrapped her arms around him, and felt him pull her close. _Love is for children. You are not a child, Natalia._ Ignoring the voices, she buried her head in his shoulder, and felt him stroke her hair softly as her hot tears soaked into his shirt.

'... 's okay, its me tash. They're not here, you're safe. It's okay Tasha'

He somehow kept up a constant stream of gentle encouragement in her ear, whilst still holding her tightly against his chest. It would be okay. He would keep her safe.

\----------

Bucky watched as Clint kept up a constant stream of soothing words, before he enveloped her in his arms. Leaving his position by the door, Bucky softly approached the two figures in the corner. She looked so young, curled up in Clint's arms. He sometimes forgot just how young she was. He crouched down next to them, whispering to Natasha in Russian.

_'Natashenka, I'm so sorry. It's my fault. I would do anything to make it up, I would do anything to take it all back. I'm so sorry for what I did to you.'_ She didn't move from her position, but he could tell that she was listening. Unsure of what to add to his apology, he brokenly repeated _'I'm so, so sorry.'_

Rising to leave the room, he was surprised to feel a small hand shoot out and catch his wrist. Confused, he looked across to Natasha, who had raised her head from Clint's shoulder to look him in the eyes.

Her face was wet with tears, and her skin was as pale as the snow. But her eyes held no blame as she whispered 'It wasn't your fault'

'I'm still sorry' he replied, before leaving to return to the other avengers. No matter what she said, he would always blame himself for the things which he had done.

Once Bucky had left, Natasha lifted her eyes to her partner's. 'I need to wash my face.'

'You ok?' He asked, giving her a concerned look.

'I'll be fine'

Clint raised his eyebrow at her, telling her that he hadn't missed her non-answer. She gave him a small, sad smile, which didn't quite reach her eyes, before nervously looking down at the floor. She cleared her throat.

'In the red room - '

'Nat' Clint softly interrupted. He studied her face momentarily, before continuing, his voice soft, 'you don't have to tell me if you don't want'

'You deserve to know. And ... I need to tell someone.' Clint reached for her hand, giving her the courage to yell him what she needed to, and there on the floor in Tony Stark's tower, she spilled out her soul to him, re-telling the story of her childhood - the films, lessons, punishments, and everything in between. When she had finished, Clint wrapped his arms around her and drew her close, unable to come up with the words to respond to her story. The world had been so cruel to this lonely little girl. And even if he couldn't protect her from her demons, he would damn well try.

\----------

Bucky hesitantly walked back into the movie theater, to be almost immediately ambushed by Tony. Most of the others held back, acknowledging that he may not want to offer an explanation, but Tony was a man who had never understood the concept of boundaries.

They deserved the truth. He knew that. So in response to Tony's persistent questions, he preceded to give them an explanation similar to the one that Natasha had just given Clint. Once he had finished, he looked down at his hands, too ashamed to look the others in the eye. Twisting his fingers together and staring at the floor, he tried to phrase his next sentence carefully. 'I... I was one of the trainers. I had to supervise and train... and...' he took a deep breath, willing his voice not to shake ' ...and punish the ones who got it wrong.'

He had thought that nothing could be worse than Tony's questions, but he now realized that he was wrong. The silence that filled the room was thick and heavy, and he uncomfortably ran his fingers through his hair. They were going to hate him. Goodness knows he deserved it.

Hesitantly, Tony asked ' what... exactly... do you mean by ...punish..?'

There it was. The million dollar question. Letting out a shaky breath, he raised his head to look Tony in the eyes. He owed them the truth. 'You name it, it would have happened. Electroshock. Beatings. Needles. Whipping.' He paused, closing his eyes in misery. Well, if they were going to know the story, they might as well know the whole story. 'Torture ...Rape. The list goes on.'

Silence. Broken only by the awkward shuffling of feet. 'So you...' Steve trailed off, not wanting to voice his question out loud. 'Natasha was...'

'Yes'

Steve's breath left him in a rush, and he was momentarily stunned, unable to form any coherent sentences. Then, he firmly declared 'That wasn't you'

Bucky turned to look at him, exasperated. 'I have memories of beating her, torturing her, and doing ...unimaginable things to her. Just because she couldn't perfectly recite a children's film' he swallowed 'I remember doing the most awful things to her. And I don't even HAVE half of my memories. Imagine how she feels. And don't you dare tell me 'you were brainwashed' or 'it wasn't you' because it can never reverse what I did, or take away either of our memories. It still happened, Steve.'

He opened his mouth to reply, but before any words could come out, a quiet voice spoke up from the doorway.

'Steve's right'

Bucky spun round, along with the others, to see two figures in the doorway. Natasha was still deathly pale, her right hand tightly grasping onto Clint, but she had a determined look on her face.

_'It wasn't you James.'_

_'But -'_

_'NO. It wasn't you, it was the soldier.'_ She let out another shaky breath, before stepping forward to lay her hand gently on his arm. He was terrified of their reaction - she could feel the tension that was coursing through his muscles.

_'It wasn't you'_ she repeated, giving his arm a comforting squeeze, before letting go to walk over to the empty couch, still tightly grasping Clint's hand. Then, pointedly ignoring the other Avengers' worried glances, she sat down, leaning into Clint. He wrapped his arm around her, drawing her close, to offer her the comfort that he knew she would never ask for.

The air was still thick with tension, and the room was coated with an uncomfortable silence. Clint counted to 10 in his head.

'So, are we watching a movie or what?'

\----------

Hours later, as the start of the second Star Wars began to play on the screen, Clint felt his partner shift her position on the couch in her sleep, so that she was curled up with her head in his lap. He leaned down to brush a soft kiss to her temple, and then settled back down to watch the film. And if any of the others noticed his fingers running softly through her hair, or the way he still held her hand too tightly, no one commented.

He smiled to himself. They'd be ok. They had each other, and after all, that's all they'd ever needed.


End file.
